"Scrubs" star Zach Braff makes his directorial debut as a depressive young man who reconnects with his old friends and himself when he returns to his hometown for his mother's funeral.
Garden State is a film that I really love but not one that I would necessarily describe as a "great film". It's deeply flawed in very obvious ways but there's something about it that makes you want to overlook its flaws, that makes you want to like it. And so I do.
Zach Braff's directorial debut is, in many ways, reminiscent of the early seasons of the show that made him a star: both Scrubs and Garden State wear the term "quirky" as a badge of honour, offering a mixture of social commentary and zanier, oddball humour whilst generally providing a cautiously optimistic outlook on the modern world.
Braff's character, Andrew Largeman is an impassive twenty-something year old: shy, quietly witty, basically what JD may have become had he too been kept doped out of his mind since the age of ten to help him deal with the freak accident that leaves his mother in a wheelchair and for which his father fears he will blame himself. The film begins with Andrew learning of his mother's death, forcing him to return home for the first time since the accident which he uses as a chance to ditch the medication that has rendered him emotionally catatonic for half his life and to try to repair his relationship with his father.
Whilst home, he reconnects with some old friends, falls in love with a charming pathological liar named Sam (Natalie Portman) and generally goes on the sort of "journey of self-discovery" that movie protagonists tend to go on. If they didn't, why would we make movies about them?
Its two stars really make this film, with Braff producing an incredibly well-shot film for his first attempt; mixing gorgeous cinematography with a decidedly Scrubs-ish soundtrack, whilst Portman lends the story its most likeable character, energising every scene she appears in and generally creating a love interest that is impossible not to fall in love with.
The direction is really exceptionally good for a first-timer: Braff has a great eye for the little details that make ordinary life amusing and imbibes the film with a tone that is a little odder and sweeter than reality without ever allowing it to become too schmaltzy or unbelievable. Bizarre elements like oddly situated houseboats and ice-skating alligators blend seamlessly into the film's slightly surreal world without ever detaching it too far from reality.
The story is rounded off with a host of other interesting characters: from Andrew's friends Mark the gravedigger/grave-robber and Jesse the bored and slightly crazy millionaire, to Sam's equally odd mother and Nigerian brother. Also, there's a fast food knight played by Big Bang Theory's Jim Parsons.
It's Andrew's relationships with Sam and with his father that are at the heart of the film.
The role of Largeman senior is handled beautifully by Ian Holm, portraying him as well-meaning but emotionally stilted, burying his feelings beneath sarcasm and passive-aggression whilst clearly yearning to reconnect with his estranged son. It was his father who, unable to deal with his wife's accident or the possibility that his son may have caused it, starts him on a course of such powerful medication that he lives the next 16 years of his life without really living it.
It's Andrew's relationship with Sam that allows him to enter back into the world, to feel things again and, eventually, to confront his father. Their confrontation is free of sudden revelations or outpourings of emotion; it's significant simply because it sees Andrew finally able to express what he really feels.
Andrew himself believes, quite rightly, that his mother's accident was really caused by a faulty dishwasher and an awful lot of bad luck. This ability for an entire life to be shattered by such a random event highlights the film's main concern: life.
Specifically: modern life. How difficult and confusing it is, how unpredictable and inexplicable and how we cope with living in a world that is so often unfair and unreasonable. The best answer the film offers to the latter is simply "because it's all there is" but the relationship between Sam and Andrew when they come to this conclusion is so sweet that this answer becomes a lot more life-affirming than it might seem.
What's disappointing is that the film deals with these big, difficult themes and ideas rather well sub-textually through the characters' interactions with one another but then feels the need to hammer them home by having Braff's character explicitly state them in a way that feels hugely unnatural.
Most likely, this is simply evidence that Braff's writing isn't yet on a par with his direction; his decision to pander to the audience to ensure that no-one could possibly miss what the film is trying to say shows a lack of confidence that prevents it from becoming quite as good as it could have been.
However, as previously mentioned, I still love this film. I love it because it's well directed, has a great, on-form cast and because, for the most part, it handles big concepts in an intelligent and affective manner.
I love it even though I could see why others wouldn't and, whilst I can't guarantee which side anyone else would come down on, I'd strongly advise them to see it anyway, just on the off chance that they get as much out of it as I do.
Zach Braff's directorial debut is a quietly funny and quaintly moving story celebrating individuality and the beauty of life, whatever the circumstances. Truly original, Braff's picture is filled with poetic symbolism and, somewhat surprisingly, sublime profundity. The story is one of a lost and desensitised small-time actor whose life ironically 'begins' when his eyes are opened by the death of his mother and the fresh perspective of Natalie Portman's compulsive liar, Sam. During the haphazard and weird trail that Largeman (Braff) is led stumbling along by his old friends, he encounters a crash course in the kind of adventures he missed as a child and learns lessons about family, love, happiness and tragedy. But Braff's film is more than just a quirky, touching tail of rebirth. It is a compendium of lessons on life teaching us that it is ok to be ourselves, and as such it shows incite beyond this young debutante's years. It is an exceptional first film from a clever and gifted actor/writer/director, and a beautiful example of indie filmmaking.
This film has made my top five films of all time,it's a quirky slice of life with lots of black humour. the acting is brilliant combined with an absolutely fantastic sound track that seems to seemlessly fit the mood of the film.it's a must to rent or buy, you won't be disappointed.
This Movie was one of the best films I'd seen all this year. The plot is simple but that's exactly what makes it such a brilliant movie.
Garden State is the story of Andrews Largeman, played by frst time writer/director Zach Braff, a man who has been so heavily medicated for the last 9 years that he has lost all emotion. Upon receiving a call from his estranged psychiatrist/father (Ian Holm), that his mother has passed away he returns to New Jersey. On his trip home, which he decides to take unmedicated, he finds that all of his friends have changed and nothing is the same. Nothing but his animosity towards his father. As the lithium drains from his system he begins to notice the everyday things in life that most of us take for granted. Then he meets Sam (Natalie Portman), who is his everything he isn't.
If you liked Sideways and I Heart Huckabees, you'll definitely love this Movie.
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Bittersweet romantic comedy directed, written by and starring Zach Braff. Andre 'Large' Largeman (Braff) is an out-of-work actor, originally from New Jersey but now living in Los Angeles, where he continues to struggle to come to terms with his overbearing psychiatrist father (Ian Holm) despite the 3000 miles that separate them. Having recently come off the anti-depressants that have kept him emotionally numbed for years, he is doubly stunned to find himself back in his hometown after receiving news of his mother's death. The process of confronting his emotional demons and reconnecting with the past is somewhat eased by a chance meeting with Sam (Natalie Portman), a happy-go-lucky young woman who at first appears to be all that Large is not, but helps him open up to the possibilities - and positivities - of life.
Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play. Andrew "Large" Largeman is returning home to New Jersey for the first time in nine years to attend his mother's funeral. A struggling actor in Los Angeles, he's been living under clouds of medication prescribed by his psychiatrist father (Ian Holm). After drifting through the funeral with the same emotional numbness he's felt for years, he reconnects with old friends Mark (Peter Sarsgaard), a gravedigger, and Albert (Denis O'Hare), a millionaire who invented noiseless Hook and loop fastener. In a doctor's office, he meets ebullient Sam (Natalie Portman), an epileptic whose lust for life inspires Andrew to feel things that his medication long denied him. Over four days, he develops feelings for Sam he didn't know he was capable of, and faces up to the resentment his father holds toward him about an accident that happened long ago. Written, directed and starring Scrubs star, Zach Braff, Garden State is his debut film. Nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Feature Commentary by Zach Braff and Actor Natalie Portman Feature Commentary by Zach Braff, Lawrence Sher, Myron Kerstein and Judy Becker Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary Making of Garden State Featurette Outtakes/Bloopers Soundtrack Promotion Actors Zach Braff, Natalie Portman, Ian Holm, Peter Sarsgaard, Jackie Hoffman, Jean Smart, Method Man, Jim Parsons, Trisha LaFache, Armando Riesco, Ron Leibman, Ann Dowd, Ato Essandoh, Geoffrey Arend & Denis O'Hare Director Zach Braff Certificate 15 years and over Year 2004 Screen Widescreen 2.35:1 Anamorphic Languages English - Dolby Digital (5.1) Additional Languages Spanish ; Portuguese Subtitles English ; English for the hearing impaired ; Spanish ; Swedish ; Norwegian ; Danish ; Finnish ; Icelandic ; Portuguese ; Dutch Duration 1 hour 49 minutes (approx)
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